Hanger base



Nov. 9, 1965 SEDO 3,216,584

HANGER BASE Filed June 25, 1963 IIHIHIHHHM V INVENTOR.

BY I

United States Patent 3,216,584 HANGER BASE Gerald H. Sedo, West Covina,Calif., assignor to M & D Store Fixtures, Inc., a corporation ofCalifornia Filed June 25, 1963, Ser. No. 290,405 4 Claims. (Cl. 211-59)This invention relates to merchandise display fixtures and particularlyto a hanger adapted to be hung upon a vertical wall panel covered withclosely spaced rows of perforations for selectively receiving attachinglugs provided on the hanger.

The attaching lugs of such hangers are of a variety of different stylesand modes of operation, the one of these in perhaps most general usecomprising a pair of upturned hook lugs extending forwardly from theupper edge of the hanger base. The insertion of these lugs into a pairof horizontally spaced perforations in the panel thus requires thehanger to be first tilted upwardly to a steep angle and then rockeddownwardly into an approximately horizontal position which rocks thelugs upwardly behind the material of the panel so they support thehanger on the panel. This style of hanger sufiers the drawback of notbeing mountable on a panel below a shelf any closer to said shelf thanthe distance required for clearance when initially tilting the hangerupwardly. Hangers are provided with prongs the length of which variesfrom three to ten inches so that the drawback mentioned constitutes ahighly undesirable limitation in the use of such hangers. Thislimitation has been endured because no way was heretofore evident ofmodifying the attaching lugs on this particular style of hanger so thatit could be mounted relatively close up underneath a shelf withoutincurring the danger of the hanger being accidently dislodged from thepanel just by lifting on the hanger.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a hanger which doesnot require an upward tilting thereof in order to mount it on aperforated panel and can be mounted on the panel while closely spaceddownwardly from a shelf, and which is locked in place when mountedanywhere on said panel so as to be reasonably secure against anyinadvertent displacement from said panel.

The manner of accomplishing the foregoing objects as well as furtherobjects and advantages will be made manifest in the followingdescription taken in connection with the accompanying drawing in whichFIG. 1 is a greatly enlarged sectional view taken on the line 1-1 ofFIG. 2 so as to give an elevational face view of the mounting base ofthe hanger of the invention from the front, with said base mounted on aperforated wall panel.

FIG. 2 is a vertical cross sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of FIG.1.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the hanger shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 andapproximately to full scale.

Referring specifically to the drawings, the invention is there shown asembodied in a hanger which is provided for mounting the same in any of awide variety of locations on a perforated wall panel 11. This wall panelis preferably made of about -gage cold rolled steel and the surfacethereof is covered by horizontal rows 12 of square perforations 13punched therefrom in a series of gang punch press operations. Theperforations 13 are arranged in the rows 12 with one of the diagonals ofeach perforation in a row aligned with that row so that the otherdiagonals of said perforations are naturally disposed vertically. In thewall panel 11, the corresponding holes in adjacent rows 12 are invertical alignment with each other and the centers of such holes arespaced apart the same distance as the centers of adjacent holes in anyof the rows 12.

The hanger 10 includes a mounting base 14 which is preferably die formedfrom l6-gage cold rolled steel with the grain running horizontally asthe base is viewed in FIG. 1. Most of the base 14 lies in a single flatplane so that the back face 15 thereof lies flat against the Wall panel11 when the hanger is mounted on the latter. In the die forming of thebase 14 the base is given a width which is slightly less than twice thehorizontal distance between centers of adjacent perforations 13 in oneof the rows 12 and a pair of hook lugs 16 are provided on the blank soas to extend laterally from upper portions of the side edges of theblank. These lugs are then die formed backwardly in parallel relationwith each other and at right angles with the plane of the base. Thesehook lugs are dimensioned so that they lie in parallel planes which arespaced apart exactly twice the horizontal spacing of the centers ofadjacent perforations 13 in one of the rows 12 and are thus able to bemoved horizontally through a pair of alternate perforations 13 whilekeeping the base 14 parallel with the panel 11. After the lugs 16 havethus been moved through an alternate pair of perforations 13, themounting base 14 may be shifted downwardly with the back face 15 thereofpressed against the panel 11, which will bring angled inner edges 17 ofthe lugs 16 into camming relation with edges of said pair of holes atthe lower corners thereof as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 so as to draw thebase 14 into tight flush contact with said panel.

In the die forming of mounting base 14, a locking tab 18 is alsooutstruck backwardly from the flat body of the mounting base so as toextend rearwardly at a slight angle from the back face 15 of said baseas shown in FIGS. 2 and 3. This locking tab is of penetrating type andis formed symmetrically with a vertical plane normal to the base andlocated midway between the hook lugs 16, and has a point 18a with anincluded angle of which faces upwardly. This tab is located on themounting base 14 so that it is necessary to spring the metal of wallpanel 11 slightly during the final downward movement of the mountingbase 14 when applying this to said wall panel as above described, so asto permit the locking tab 18 to penetrate within the upper square cornerof the square perforation 13 located half-way between the alternate pairof perforations 13 into which the hook lugs 16 have been inserted.

For the purpose of clearly identifying the three perforations 13 in thepanel 11 which are engaged by the hook lugs 16 and the locking tab 18these are separately identified in the drawing as perforations 13a, 13band in the order in which these appear from left to right in FIG. 1.

After the mounting base 14 has been applied to the wall panel 11 asshown in FIGS. 1 and 2 and above described, it may only be removed fromits mounting on said panel by a slight distortion of the latter so as toremove the locking tab 18 from the upper corner of center perforation13b, after which the hook lugs 16 may of course be shifted upwardly outof engaging relation with the lower corners of left and rightperforations 13a and 130.

The hanger 10 also includes a boss 19 which is die stamped forwardlyfrom the material of the base 14 and is centrally perforated to receivea pin 20 of reduced diameter formed on the inner end of a rod 25 and theinner end of pin 20 is swedged and/or spot welded to the inside of theboss 19 so as to rigidly mount the rod 25 on the base 14. The centralportion of the boss 19 may be disposed vertically so that the rod 25extends horizontally therefrom or the central portion of the boss may bedie formed at a slight inclination from vertical so that the rod 25 willbe inclined upwardly. The rod 25 performs the function of a merchandisesupport after 3. the hanger has been mounted on wall panel 11 and italso serves as a handle when mounting the mounting base 14 on said paneland when removing the same therefrom.

While only a single embodiment of the invention is disclosed, it is tobe understood that this is for illustrative purposes only and-thatvarious changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit ofthe invention or the scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A mounting base adapted to be used in association with a wall panelhaving straight horizontal rows of uniformly spaced perforations, saidbase comprising: a sheet metal plate having a width capable of extendingacross approximately twice the spacing between centers of adjacentperforations in one of said rows and adapted to lie flat against saidpanel when applied thereto; a pair of down-turned hook lugs extendingbackwardly at right angles from said base, said hook lugs being directlyhorizontally insertable through a pair of alternate perforations in saidrow, said base then being shiftable directly downwardly to hook saidhook lugs over lower edges of said alternate perforations and bearagainst said panel from behind to snugly hold said base against saidpanel; a locking tab of the penetrating type outstruck a slight distancebackwardly from the material of said base on a vertical axis locatedmidway between said hook lugs and facing upwardly, said tab beingpositioned on said base so as to be forced by the application of saidbase to said panel as aforesaid, to penetrate just within the upperportion of the perforation of said row located midway between saidalternate perforations with said tab opposed to the upper edge of saidmiddle perforation and thus retaining said hook lugs in downward hookedrelation with the lower edges of said first mentioned two perforations;and merchandise support means provided on said base.

2. A mounting base as recited in claim 1 wherein said merchandisesupport means comprises a substantially horizontal rod on whichmerchandise may be hung.

3. A mounting base as recited in claim 1 wherein said locking tab ispointed.

4. A mounting base as recited in claim 3 wherein the point of saidlocking tab has approximately the outline of a angle.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,036,884 4/ 36Reeves. 2,312,985 3/43 Bales. 2,614,701 10/52 Mapson. 2,790,616 4/57Cardinal. 2,797,817 7/57 Shugarman.

CLAUDE A. LE ROY, Primary Examiner.

1. A MOUNTING BASE ADAPTED TO BE USED IN ASSOCIATION WITH A WALL PANELHAVING STRAIGHT HORIZONTAL ROWS OF UNIFORMLY SPACED PERFORATIONS, SAIDBASE COMPRISING: A SHEET METAL PLATE HAVING A WIDTH CAPABLE OF EXTENDINGACROSS APPROXIMATELY TWICE THE SPACING BETWEEN CENTERS OF ADJACENTPERFORATIONS IN ONE OF SAID ROWS AND ADAPTED TO LIE FLAT AGAINST SAIDPANEL WHEN APPLIED THERETO; A PAIR OF DOWN-TURNED HOOK LUGS EXTENDINGBACKWARDLY AT RIGHT ANGLES FROM SAID BASE, SAID HOOK LUGS BEING DIRECTLYHORIZONTALLY INSERTABLE THROUGH A PAIR OF ALTERNATE PERFORATIONS IN SAIDROW, SAID BASE THEN BEING SHIFTABLE DIRECTLY DOWNWARDLY TO HOOK SAIDHOOK LUGS OVER LOWER EDGES OF SAID ALTERNATE PERFORATIONS AND BEARAGAINST SAID PANEL FROM BEHIND TO SNUGLY HOLD SAID BASE AGAINST SAIDPANEL; A LOCKING TAB OF THE PENETRATING TYPE OUTSTRUCK A SLIGHT DISTANCEBACKWARDLY FROM THE MATERIAL OF SAID BASE ON A VERTICAL AXIS LOCATEDMIDWAY BETWEEN SAID HOOK LUGS AND FACING UPWARDLY, SAID TAB BEINGPOSITIONED ON SAID BASE SO AS TO BE FORCED BY THE APPLICATION OF SAIDBASE TO SAID PANEL AS AFORESAID, TO PENETRATE JUST WITHIN THE UPPERPORTION OF THE PERFORATION OF SAID ROW LOCATED MIDWAY BETWEEN SAIDALTERNATE PERFORATIONS WITH SAID TAB OPPOSED TO THE UPPER EDGE OF SAIDMIDDLE PERFORATION AND THUS RETAINING SAID HOOK LUGS IN DOWNWARD HOOKEDRELATION WITH THE LOWER EDGES OF SAID FIRST MENTIONED TWO PERFORATIONS;AND MERCHANDISE SUPPORT MEANS PROVIDED ON SAID BASE.